This week in your Kitchen Garden.

[Biddlybee]

Chilles are being furiously distributed to all and sundry, yet are still overfilling the windowsill. Greenhouse also full down allotment. Have got full on early flowers on a handful of plants now, with others carrying plenty of buds.

My three seem happy on the kitchen windowsill, thank you. Got flowers on the biggest one and have been doing what I think will make the chillies come, little brush between flowers... pretending to be a bee

My herbs on the back sill are drying out something terrible, so am trying the trick of sticking an inverted wine bottle full of water in the container so soil stays moist - hope it works, and the soil isn't too wet for them. My thyme was doing so well!

Three plants out the front are loving it, silver posie thyme, lavender and black pepper mint... growing so quickly. I might have an issue with the mint though. I put a divider in the window box, but it has set off about four creepers and has double in size in the last week...

Is there anything I can do? Chop off the creeping bits? Or is best just to move it to its own pot?

It's trying to get into the house!

 

[BoatieBird]

I think I would just move it into it's own pot biddly, I've got massive garden, but I still grow mint in a pot as it'll spread and spread and spread given half a chance!

 

[invisibleplanet]

I've just got a piece of horseradish! Now ... *strokes chin* ... where shall I plant it?

 

[tarannau]

In a very strong pot IP - horseradish grows like wildfuckingfire, as I believe the technical term is.

Glad the chillies are bearing up ok Biddly- I've got some flowers on the Chenzo spare here, so I reckon you must be close with that one too. I've already got my first two chillies on the super chile too - no paintbrush business,just putting the pots on the balcony in the morning when I leave for work (and then bringing them back in when I get home).

Agree that it's best to put mint in a separate pot - even different mints tend to compete with each other in the same pot, often leaving only one vigorous victor. If you get a chance to ever repot, it's really worth adding vermiculite ime - it's cheap enough from ebay, holds and retains far more water than you'd think. I'm sure it's saved my plants a few times.

 

[invisibleplanet]

In a very strong pot IP - horseradish grows like wildfuckingfire, as I believe the technical term is.

Right you are. I shall go for a walk to buy a large strong pot tomorrow from the local garden centre

Agree that it's best to put mint in a separate pot - even different mints tend to compete with each other in the same pot, often leaving only one vigorous victor.

Ah. That might explain why my pot-full of mint from last year, has only one surviving plant, and that plant could easily be described as 'vigorous'. It's very strong looking!

 

[tarannau]

Make it a deep, strong pot fwiw - it's got some considerable roots unsurprisingly.

 

[invisibleplanet]

Make it a deep, strong pot fwiw - it's got some considerable roots unsurprisingly.

Will do. I shan't be able to dig it up again until after the next frost afaik. Then I shall sacrifice some to make horseradish sauce, and replant the rest.
At least, that's how I think it goes

 

[Biddlybee]

I think I would just move it into it's own pot biddly, I've got massive garden, but I still grow mint in a pot as it'll spread and spread and spread given half a chance!

Agree that it's best to put mint in a separate pot - even different mints tend to compete with each other in the same pot, often leaving only one vigorous victor. If you get a chance to ever repot, it's really worth adding vermiculite ime - it's cheap enough from ebay, holds and retains far more water than you'd think. I'm sure it's saved my plants a few times.

Cheers, I got some soil/compost on the way home and will do it at the weekend. The box at the front esems to be ok, as it only gets the morning light, its the one at the back that heats up all afternoon... might mix some vermiculite in with that if the wine bottle trick doesn't work.

 

[tarannau]

I must admit that I've never quite worked out how good vermiculite vs perlite is in retaining moisture. Perlite's better for drainage, but folk seem to reckon it's good at holding moisture too, particularly surface level water apparently.

I tend to mix both into houseplant, greenhouse and patio pots for that reason, hedging my bets. Often top the soil surface with vermiculite too, supposedly and dubiously to hold water in and lessen evaporation. But it seems to work better than soil alone for sure - any expert gardening advice welcome here.

 

[sheothebudworths]

Well I'm experimenting with it for the first time this year too, T! I plumped for vermiculite (after suffering the same confusion ) and have so far added a good layer mixed with compost to my winter squash which is in a pot again and got VERY badly dried out last year. Will also be adding it to my houseplants when I repot those as they were also failing to retain any water at all after being indoors with the radiators going all winter. Oh and my tomatoes and aubergines. Hoping it'll make the whole watering business less of a MASSIVE CHORE - last year was a nightmare by the end!

Speaking of tomatoes, I have my first fruit forming on the tumbling tomatoes!

Also forgot to mention my blueberries which are also busy doing their thing.

I picked my first lot of sweet peas yesterday - have BUNDLES this year all along the length of the side fence and half way across the wide back fence, so LOTS of little vases of flowers on the horizon!

Will put some pics up later.

 

[tufty79]

balconygarden more than kitchen garden..
but my runner beans are sprinting up, my sprouts are sprouting, my gorgettes have started saying hello, my carrots are doing something, and i'm fairly sure i have something cucumbery happening too.

planted some leeks and will see if they work.

any boo, my pumpkin (with step siblings bibbity and bobbity, being fostered out shortly) is doing well

pics when i can sort them

 

[Biddlybee]

I must admit that I've never quite worked out how good vermiculite vs perlite is in retaining moisture. Perlite's better for drainage, but folk seem to reckon it's good at holding moisture too, particularly surface level water apparently.

I tend to mix both into houseplant, greenhouse and patio pots for that reason, hedging my bets. Often top the soil surface with vermiculite too, supposedly and dubiously to hold water in and lessen evaporation. But it seems to work better than soil alone for sure - any expert gardening advice welcome here.

This post confuses me a bit... I might need to talk to someone at the garden centre

 

[BoatieBird]

balconygarden more than kitchen garden..
but my runner beans are sprinting up, my sprouts are sprouting, my gorgettes have started saying hello, my carrots are doing something, and i'm fairly sure i have something cucumbery happening too.

planted some leeks and will see if they work.

any boo, my pumpkin (with step siblings bibbity and bobbity, being fostered out shortly) is doing well

pics when i can sort them

I love the fact that you have named your pumpkins tufty.

I still haven't got round to planting out my courgettes, but that is definitely top of the list for tonight.

I would like to offer your some perlite/vermiculite advice diddly but Idon't really know what I'm talking about.
I bought some vermiculite the other day and it made me feel like a proper knowswhatshesdoing gardener

 

[tufty79]

I love the fact that you have named your pumpkins tufty.

I bought some vermiculite the other day and it made me feel like a proper knowswhatshesdoing gardener

ooh i want to get some of that (i keep calling it vermicelli! )

this is boo *proud*

 

[Biddlybee]

I would like to offer your some perlite/vermiculite advice diddly but Idon't really know what I'm talking about.
I bought some vermiculite the other day and it made me feel like a proper knowswhatshesdoing gardener

I've not even googled it yet... dunno what it is

 

[Johnny.L]

Planing out cucumber and pumpkins this weekend - cucumnber will be fine, but hoping for a good summer for the pumpkin. It's a Kabocha Squash using saved seed from last year. Fingers crossed.

 

[Me76]

This year, thanks to Boatiebird, I am attempting my first food crop.

I have grown herbs before but pics are of carrots, radishes and spring onions three weeks on from planting from seed.

 

[invisibleplanet]

[Note: the fotos are from t'internet - I'll get around to taking some of my garden when the weather cheers up!]

Okra and cobra beans have arrived. Am going to plant the okra in my neighbour's conservatory as they need a steady temp for germination. I'm a bit late with them, but I'll save some seed for next year and start earlier. Cobra are going to go straight into the ground, along the fence with netting to climb up.

Cabbage seeds have germinated. Some evil beast ate all my cucumber plants bar one, and something very bad happened to the dwarf yellow fine beans - they've completely disappeared )~; The green dwarf beans are doing very well though, as are the borlotti, which have begun to climb the wigwams now (o: Radishes are growing nicely; spring onions have just begun to peep up through the soil.

Marrows (courgettes) and tomatoes are looking very healthy. They'll need planting out into their permanent spaces asap. Potatoes have reached my waist. They're in pots (never grown them in pots before) and they seem happy enough |~:

Transplanted lots of the aqualegia (purples and pinks Biedemeier mix) into the front garden, and filled up some awkward areas with aqualegia and pansies.

Moved a few pansies from the front garden into an old herb/strawb pot, which really wasn't working as the herbs (sage, thyme, chives, oregano) are too big in their mature state to live happily there. I bought them as plug plants (RHS Winning formula) and they are so cheerful that everyone comments on them!

I'll have finished the rockery herb wheel soon (it'll look a bit like the herbidacious rockery in the attachment) - just waiting on some more rocks and then I can transplant the existing herbs into it and sow some more (parsley, chives, oregano). Coriander has come up very well. Have planted another pot today.

 

[invisibleplanet]

The rockery herb wheel spiral thingy is nearly finished ... I've run out of rocks, but I can re-place some of them with bricks and re-use those in the lower-bed for the slope, as there's no point having rocks hidden by the soil-slope. Anyhoo, here's the almost-finished article ... it used to be a trad rockery - not anymore! Can't wait to lay the matting around the outside, cover with gravel, fill the beds with quality compost and transplant all my herbs into it!

 

[BoatieBird]

That's ace ip. What herbs are you going to put in it?

I'm in the process of creating a herb bed, but I'm holding off on the planting as I want to buy the plants when I go to Hampton Court flower show in July.
I know I want an upright rosemary and a couple of different thymes, but that's as far as I've got.

 

[BoatieBird]

This year, thanks to Boatiebird, I am attempting my first food crop.

I have grown herbs before but pics are of carrots, radishes and spring onions three weeks on from planting from seed.

looking good

 

[invisibleplanet]

That's ace ip. What herbs are you going to put in it?

Dill (Anethum graveolens); Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis); Marjoram, Compact (Origanum vulgare compactum); Mint, Moroccan (Mentha spicata var. crispa 'Moroccan') - best for making authentic mint tea; Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis - the centre piece in the high bed); Sage (Salvia officinalis); Thyme x 2 types - a low grower at the edges to spill over and the 'official' variety in the high bed with the parsley, sage and rosemary (yes, I know!); Valerian (Valeriana officinalis - for pain relief); Alpine Strawberry (Fregaria vesca alpina - in the crevices); Caraway (Carum carvi - for cakes); Chamomile, Roman (Chamaemelum nobile - for tea, good for relaxation, muscle spasms, cramps);

From seed, am also going to sow chives around the edge of the rockery on the ground - chives seem take a year to establish themselves before they start flowering properly - you can eat the flowers and they make a very pretty salad garnish (this used to delight IP Jnr as a child - he loved to eat them!).

The Hyssop and the Valerian are quite tall, so they'll be planted behind the rockery, to peep up behind it - I might separate the culinary herbs from the medicinal herbs ... probably will add a few more 'tea' type herbs to the mix too, but not sure which ones yet. I'm also going to transplant the Digitalis (Foxglove) to live behind the rockery too.

It's a bit bleak behind there atm, and I really ought to consider planting a flowering climber behind it. I had thought about planting a hop plant, and then running it along the back wall, but I'm not a beer brewer, so I'm not sure which type of hops a beer brewer would prefer to use, and me, being me, would also want to plant an historic hop plant variety too - more research is required!

I'm in the process of creating a herb bed, but I'm holding off on the planting as I want to buy the plants when I go to Hampton Court flower show in July.
I know I want an upright rosemary and a couple of different thymes, but that's as far as I've got.

I've never been to a flower show!

 

[BoatieBird]

I've never been to a flower show either, this will be my first one *excited*
I know I'm going to want to buy lots of plants so I thought that if I go with something definite in mind (i.e. my herb bed) then it should help to kerb my spending

 

[BoatieBird]

Dill (Anethum graveolens); Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis); Marjoram, Compact (Origanum vulgare compactum); Mint, Moroccan (Mentha spicata var. crispa 'Moroccan') - best for making authentic mint tea; Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis - the centre piece in the high bed); Sage (Salvia officinalis); Thyme x 2 types - a low grower at the edges to spill over and the 'official' variety in the high bed with the parsley, sage and rosemary (yes, I know!); Valerian (Valeriana officinalis - for pain relief); Alpine Strawberry (Fregaria vesca alpina - in the crevices); Caraway (Carum carvi - for cakes); Chamomile, Roman (Chamaemelum nobile - for tea, good for relaxation, muscle spasms, cramps);

Cheers for that ip, after some googling I've added dill to my list and I like the look of valerian too

 

[Biddlybee]

I have a chilli!

 

[tarannau]

Woo! I'm quite proud of my little babies Diddly, so it's pleasing to see another succeed. Super Chile? Those plants are seriously productive - I'm up to 10 chillies already on a small 1 litre pot, plenty of flowers all around. The others are much slower or seemingly more hesitant to throw out more than a couple of fruit atm. The plants in the greenhouse are growing bloody huge - side shoots galore and looking different beasts to the skinnier suspects in smaller pots on windowsills at home - the amount of sun makes a huge difference. Took a big box of chillies down to the pub this weekend and distributed out more, sadly realising that my windowsills aren't going to handle more.

Have been spotting and killing the odd aphid, but there were more than a few on a Trini scorpion in another room this morning. They must have bred for once. So spent a disproportionate of time rifling through soil and the upper leaves, trying to leave no trace of the sticky bastards. We'll see in a week or two, but then it'll be soapy water followed by more serious chemicals. Those aphid bastards can really drag a plant down if they get to sufficient numbers.

On the plus side, my combination of death spikes and chilli powder seems to have put off whatever was digging up the outside pots anyway

 

[bi0boy]

My tomato leaves are curling.

The thing is, the curling doesn't match the descriptions of curling problems on google - the bottom leaves are curling up and the top leaves curling down

 

[Biddlybee]

I am soo happy I didn't kill them

It is the super chile. The chenzo is on the brink of flowering, but not quite there and the habanero seems happy just staying the same size.

Do they like quite a bit of room? I could maybe do with repotting them soon.

Sounds like you're going to have a glut of chillies on your hands... chilli sauce?

Woo! I'm quite proud of my little babies Diddly, so it's pleasing to see another succeed. Super Chile? Those plants are seriously productive - I'm up to 10 chillies already on a small 1 litre pot, plenty of flowers all around. The others are much slower or seemingly more hesitant to throw out more than a couple of fruit atm. The plants in the greenhouse are growing bloody huge - side shoots galore and looking different beasts to the skinnier suspects in smaller pots on windowsills at home - the amount of sun makes a huge difference. Took a big box of chillies down to the pub this weekend and distributed out more, sadly realising that my windowsills aren't going to handle more.

Have been spotting and killing the odd aphid, but there were more than a few on a Trini scorpion in another room this morning. They must have bred for once. So spent a disproportionate of time rifling through soil and the upper leaves, trying to leave no trace of the sticky bastards. We'll see in a week or two, but then it'll be soapy water followed by more serious chemicals. Those aphid bastards can really drag a plant down if they get to sufficient numbers.

On the plus side, my combination of death spikes and chilli powder seems to have put off whatever was digging up the outside pots anyway

 

[tarannau]

Eh? You'd better have repotted them already Biddly - they were only in tiny 7cm pots <wags finger>. Put them in new soil and they should quickly spread their wings and thrive. They were pretty much rootbound when I gave them to you

The super chile and chenzo will make do in a smaller pot (1 or 2 litre), but the habanero would probably benefit from slightly larger if you can spare the space. And get pots with saucers and water from the bottom if you can

 

[Biddlybee]

I feel like a bad mother now... will repot them when I get home tonight. I have pots and soil ready. I have been watering from the bottom at least